Probabilistic search biasing and recommendations

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for probabilistic search biasing and recommendations. A system including at least one processor may be configured to receive an input relating to an identified item, generate a database query based on the input, and receive a response to the database query. The response may include information on comparable items similar to the identified item, and corresponding metadata for the comparable items. The corresponding metadata may include a range of values corresponding to the comparable items. The system may be further configured to generate a probability score for at least two values of the range of values, based at least on the corresponding metadata for the comparable items. The system may be further configured to output at least a suggested value based on at least the generated probability score for the range of values and prompt for further input.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/288,373, filed Feb. 28, 2019, now pending, which claims the benefitof U.S. Patent Application No. 62/740,165 titled “Probabilistic SearchBiasing and Recommendations,” filed Oct. 2, 2018; and is also related toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/288,379, titled “Probabilistic ItemMatching and Searching,” filed Feb. 28, 2019; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/288,199, titled “Inventory Ingestion, Image Processing, andMarket Descriptor Pricing System,” filed. Feb. 28, 2019; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/288,203, titled “Inventory Ingestion and PricingSystem,” filed Feb. 28, 2019; and U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/288,158, titled “Determining Sellability Score and CancellabilityScore,” filed Feb. 28, 2019, all of which are herein incorporated byreference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to computer-implemented searching andgenerating recommendations based on probabilistic analysis of large datasets.

BACKGROUND

Often, when one is interested in buying or selling an item via an onlineplatform, identifying the item and items like it can pose difficulties.For example, to describe an item for sale in a way that does not resultin multiple different listings for the same item may be a challenge bothfor a vendor and for a vending platform. Similarly, for a purchaser tosearch for a specific item, receiving multiple different results forwhat may be the same item can be confusing, as is receiving a purchaseditem that does not match the description of the item at the time of theinitial transaction. Along these lines, buyers and sellers havestruggled with accuracy of search results and matching items.

A related problem is with providing and receiving relevant searchresults within terms of service or other meaningful constraints of agiven platform for buying or selling. For example, all else being equal,buyers may want to receive items sooner rather than later, and platformsmay want to provide a quality-of-service (QoS) level or service-levelagreement (SLA) to pair buyers with sellers who can ship and get itemsdelivered sooner rather than later. Similarly, sellers may have noreliable way to guess how to price items in order to move them within acertain time window, how to price items for specific proceeds or to haveany likelihood of closing a sale. Within consumer-to-consumer (C2C)markets, including C2C electronic commerce, both buyers and sellers haveexperienced a long-felt need for smarter platforms to facilitate theseaspects of marketing, and to make these easier solutions moretransparent and effortless.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosureand, together with the description, further serve to explain theprinciples of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in theart(s) to make and use the embodiments.

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing an example system useful forimplementing methods including probabilistic item matching andsearching, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an example system useful forimplementing methods including probabilistic search biasing andrecommendations, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing an example screen display including anexemplary prompt for input of a value, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method including probabilistic itemmatching and searching, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method including probabilisticsearch biasing and recommendations, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a general purpose computer thatmay be used to perform various aspects of the present disclosure.

In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical orsimilar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of areference number identifies the drawing in which the reference numberfirst appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Provided herein are system, apparatus, device, method, and/or computerprogram product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinationsthereof, for providing probabilistic item matching, searching, searchbiasing, recommendations, and/or any combination thereof.

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing an example system useful forimplementing methods including probabilistic item matching andsearching, according to some embodiments.

On the left-hand side of FIG. 1 is a representation of a seller andselling application (app), which may be used for displaying listed itemsfor sale as well as for creating new listings of items for sale, in someembodiments. These representations involve a frontend design of the app,which may be a web app, mobile app (native, web-based, or hybrid, forexample), and may involve varying levels of user interaction.Interaction with a buyer instead of a seller may involve similarinteraction with the app, in some embodiments.

From the center to the right-hand side of FIG. 1 is a representation ofan exemplary backend architecture that may be useful for implementingprobabilistic item matching and searching, according to an embodiment.Together, the components shown in FIG. 1, among others, may be treatedas making up an example system 100, which may handle operations fromstoring, retrieving, and/or calculating data (item data, metadata,listings, databases, etc.) on the backend, and processing input, output,results, and related interaction on the frontend.

Beyond interaction with a user (e.g., buyer/seller), the backend mayprocess input from a user and/or a variety of other sources. Forexample, if a seller provides input regarding an item for a new listing,the backend may seek to confirm, via other input, an identification ofwhat the seller is attempting to list. The other input may be promptedfrom the seller, automatically derived from other sources, or acombination of both, in some embodiments.

In order to generate a suggested price recommendation, the backend maydo any of the following, in any order: (1) check against old listings ina backend database of listings, e.g., on the same platform; (2) checkagainst feed data of data partners, e.g., via a subscription servicebetween the same platform and a third-party provider; (3) check againstscraped listings from public sources, e.g., other e-commerce websitesincluding other C2C platforms, business-to-consumer (B2C) consignmentsites, and/or retail platforms; and (4) confirm with the seller,including prompting for input to confirm whether any informationretrieved from (1), (2), (3), or any combination thereof, is accurateaccording to the seller.

Per the above descriptions, whether receiving and parsing user inputregarding an item, or whether checking any of (1), (2), (3), or anycombination thereof, any matching may be performed at any stage of suchprocess(es) described here. More specifically, the term “matching” mayrefer to more than determining text strings or other data sequencescoincide.

For example, matching in any of the above scenarios may include use ofnatural language processing (NLP) techniques, including determiningsynonyms (including any abbreviations, acronyms, contractions, orexpansions, e.g., by a synonym library or lookup table) and furthersearching to match any synonyms found, determining and/or furthersearching any other semantically related words for additional matching,performing word stemming based on least one language and correspondingmorphological rule set(s), determining misspellings and equating themisspellings with correct spellings (or otherwise correctingmisspellings) for additional matching, and so on for similar processing.Thus, matching may be recursive, in some embodiments. Using similarlinguistic analysis of inputs or item descriptions, modifier terms,e.g., adjectives describing size or color, may be separated from othernominal identifier terms, e.g., names or nouns specifying an item.

Additionally, matching may be performed not only for generic terms orcategorical descriptions, but also for proper nouns, e.g., brand names,genericized trademarks, etc. Classifier algorithms, in some embodiments,or other neural networks or artificial intelligence may be used toextract relevant terms from unstructured word sets such as searchqueries, user input, or item descriptions retrieved from (1), (2), or(3) as mentioned above. Thus, a given classifier may “understand” from agiven unstructured word set what terms may be intended as brand namesversus generic descriptions, and may be configured to update anydatabase, library, or lookup table, etc., to include brand informationin specific categories or sub-categories together with generic terms,for example, to improve matching. Matching algorithms or any componentsmay be biased or tuned for precision or recall.

In some embodiments, such matching as described above may be performedlocally on a client device, e.g., personal computer (PC) or mobiledevice such as a smartphone or tablet computer, remotely on self-hostedservice (including dedicated server(s), virtual private server (VPS), oron-premises cloud) infrastructure, remotely via third-party services, orany combination thereof. In embodiments where the matching operationsmay be performed via multiple devices, certain matching operations maybe performed locally, with intermediate results being delivered toremote services for confirmation, validation, other additionalprocessing, or any combination thereof.

In an embodiment, one way to identify items or types of items may be toresolve a proposed new listing to correspond to a unique identifier,such as by comparison to items already mapped to unique identifiers, forexample. Information on items confirmed in this manner may thencorrelate more reliably with information of other comparable itemslisted in the backend database or with other sources, for example.Search biasing and price recommendations may be provided accordingly, asadditionally described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 5 below, andadditionally in the “Probabilistic Search Biasing and Recommendations”application that was referenced above and incorporated by referenceherein.

For some particularly unique items (e.g., one-of-a-kind items,custom-made items, craft items, personalized items, etc.), which mayhave no unique identifier corresponding to other items of the same type,there may be no unique identifier to which other like items are mapped.In such a case, the backend may proceed differently (not shown), such asby automatically referencing other platforms (e.g., of custom or craftitems) for duplicate listings or immediately prompting the seller toconfirm such uniqueness, in some example embodiments.

The reference or value may be a uniform, universal, and/or uniqueidentifier, including but not limited to a stock-keeping unit (SKU),universal product code (UPC), uniform resource identifier (URI), uniformresource locator (URL), uniform resource name (URN), internationalstandard book number (ISBN), Amazon standard item number (ASIN), etc.,to which a given item may be mapped, in some embodiments. Additionallyor alternatively, a value may include a checksum, fingerprint,signature, digest, hash, cryptographic hash, etc., corresponding to atleast one of the first input or second input (e.g., character stringitem description, specific text field for brand name, enumeratedselector for size, model year, etc.), to track inputs and outputs and/ordetermine duplicate inputs, for example. For purposes of FIG. 1 and thisaccompanying description, mapping a given item to a unique identifiermay also be referred to as SKU-level matching or SKU-level data.

At the initial input stage, or at any subsequent input stage, such asaction (4), system 100 may seek additional user input via the app, forexample. Input may be text in the form of a character string, aphotographic image, voice recognition, other characteristic sounds oraudio fingerprints, for example. Text-based input via the app may prompta user for a few fields of information depending on a broad category ofthe item to be listed for sale, rather than an exhaustive description ofall features. In many cases, even basic text information may allow thebackend to resolve SKU-level data, or at least present a few likelycandidate items to a seller for confirmation of the correct itemidentification.

Aside from text-based strings or images, a mathematical or cryptographicsignature in any representation may also be used. Barcodes or otherpatterns or sequences may be used. Other possible types of inputinclude, without limitation, vibrational patterns, chemical samples andanalysis thereof, measurements of radiation, electrical and/or magneticsignals, or any other environmental sensor input, etc.

Other forms of input may be received, such as in the form of output fromother computer programs or algorithms, e.g., neural network output,perceptron output, image recognition output, classification output, orother types of output. These outputs may be based on other user inputs,e.g., from photographic data, voice or audio data, or other third-partyresources, feeds, etc. Any or all such input may be generated by amobile device, such as a tablet computer or smartphone, in someembodiments.

In a case of image input, a user attempting to create a new listing forsale may be prompted to take at least one photograph of the item to belisted. Photographic image data from the photograph(s) may be processedlocally on the device running the app, or may be transmitted to thebackend or to a third party for initial processing and/or furtherprocessing. Processing of the photographic image data may include use ofartificial intelligence. Processing of the image data may includefeeding the image data into a neural network, perceptron, or classifier,for example. The image data may be processed using computer-implementedimage recognition, such as using at least one computer vision algorithm,in some embodiments. Any of the above technologies or their equivalentsmay be used to perform operations such as classification, objectrecognition and/or reverse image-searching, to name a few non-limitingexamples.

Any neural networks described herein may include at least one artificialneural network (ANN). The ANN(s) may include at least one of afeedforward neural network, a recurrent neural network, a modular neuralnetwork, or a memory network, to name a few non-limiting examples. Inthe case of a feedforward neural network, for example, this may furthercorrespond to at least one of a convolutional neural network, aprobabilistic neural network, a time-delay neural network, a multi-layerperceptron, an autoencoder, or any combination thereof, in someembodiments. Such ANNs may have multiple layers—in some embodiments, thelayers may be densely connected, such as in cases where activationfunctions may be reused from certain layers or where activation of oneor more layers is skipped to resolve certain calculations, in someembodiments.

In further embodiments based on convolutional neural network (CNN)processing, for example, such CNNs may further integrate at least somefilters (e.g., edge filters, horizon filters, color filters, etc.).These filters may include some of the edge detection algorithms, colorfiltering algorithms, and/or predetermined thresholds, for example. Fordesired results, a given ANN, including a CNN, may be designed,customized, and/or modified in various ways, for example, according toseveral criteria, in some embodiments.

Image recognition here may also leverage machine learning, in someembodiments. Image recognition systems may be trained using any ofbackend database listings, feed data of data partners, scraped listingsfrom public sources, or any other source of accurate training data, forexample. Image recognition may be further configured to detect andinterpret barcodes, Quick Response (QR) codes, labels, tags, logos,trademarks, and/or any other defining characteristic of an item. Imagerecognition may additionally perform optical character recognition (OCR)and interpret text using natural language processing (NLP), in someembodiments. Thus, image recognition may be used to identify listeditems, or at least candidate items for confirmation and selection, andmay update selected items based on new information and calculations thatmay be subsequently introduced via various input sources.

As discussed above, actions (1)-(4) taken by system 100 may be performedin any order, taking or skipping any based on any other automated ormanual determinations. However, accounting for reliability,computational efficiency, time, and potentially cost (of accessingcertain platforms, for example), one default configuration may be tocheck first with the backend database on the same platform at (1), andif (1) sufficiently satisfies a condition (e.g., providing data pointsfor a list of candidate items and/or another data point by which toconfirm or update a selected item), then actions (2)-(4) may bebypassed, skipping to any update or confirmation actions. Additionally,subsequent actions may be “smart” or otherwise consider responses orresults from previous actions as results become available.

Similarly, if (1) does not satisfy a condition, or if further input isotherwise sought, system 100 may proceed to taking action (2) or (3),depending on which is more efficient or depending on other factors.Additionally or alternatively, any of actions (1)-(4) may be performedin parallel, for potentially quicker resolution, in some embodiments.

Depending on a given platform and/or a given seller, seller input may betreated as less reliable than input gathered from any of (1)-(3). Insome embodiments, if any or all of (1)-(3) are still insufficient forany reason, or for any other reason, (4) may optionally be pursued,requesting additional seller input, confirmation, or adjustments, forexample. The action taken at (4) may include providing further promptsfor input from the seller, including for additional details describingthe item to be listed and/or confirmation of whether a selected item orother candidate items may match the item to be listed, in someembodiments.

Once system 100 “understands” what an item is, such as by artificialintelligence, image recognition, or any other means available to system100, additional calculations may be performed, such as to analyze andcategorize the items based on other data or corresponding metadata, suchas price, condition, marketability trends, etc. More detail on thesefurther calculations is described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 5 below,and additionally in the “Probabilistic Search Biasing andRecommendations” application incorporated by reference.

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an example system useful forimplementing methods including probabilistic search biasing andrecommendations, according to some embodiments.

On the left-hand side of FIG. 2 is a representation of a seller andselling application (app), which may be used for displaying listed itemsfor sale as well as for creating new listings of items for sale, in someembodiments. These representations involve a frontend design of the app,which may be a web app, mobile app (native, web-based, or hybrid, forexample), and may involve varying levels of user interaction.Interaction with a buyer instead of a seller may involve similarinteraction with the app, in some embodiments.

From the center to the right-hand side of FIG. 2 is a representation ofan exemplary backend architecture that may be useful for implementingprobabilistic search biasing and recommendations, according to anembodiment. Together, the components shown in FIG. 2, among others, maybe treated as making up an example system 200, which may handleoperations from storing, retrieving, and/or calculating data (item data,metadata, listings, databases, etc.) on the backend, and processinginput, output, results, and related interaction on the frontend.

Beyond interaction with a user (e.g., buyer/seller), the backend mayprocess input from a user and/or a variety of other sources. Forexample, if a seller provides input regarding an item for a new listing,the backend may seek to confirm, via other input, an identification ofwhat the seller is attempting to list and typical or comparable listprices therefor, such as on the same market platform, other marketplatforms, consignment stores, retail stores, or a combination of theabove. The other input may be prompted from the seller, automaticallyderived from other sources, or a combination of both, in someembodiments.

In an embodiment, one way to gather prices may be to start with an itemalready confirmed to match a given item in a database. An example ofthis is described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 4 herein, and additionallyin the “Probabilistic Item Matching and Searching” applicationincorporated by reference. With an item confirmed in this manner, anycorresponding price information may be expected to correlate morereliably with the item that the seller is attempting to list. Pricerecommendations may be generated accordingly.

Conversely, for unique items (e.g., one-of-a-kind items, custom-madeitems, craft items, personalized items, etc.), which may have no uniqueidentifier corresponding to other items of the same type, the backendmay proceed differently (not shown), such as by referring the seller tolistings within the same broad category of unique items (e.g., based onuser input of a broad category), automatically generate a price based onthe broad category or comparable platform for such unique goods, and/ordecline to provide a comparable or suggested price recommendation, insome example embodiments.

In order to generate a suggested price recommendation, the backend maydo any of the following, in any order: (1) check against old listings ina backend database of listings; (2) check against feed data of datapartners, e.g., via a subscription service between the same platform anda third-party provider; (3) check against scraped listings from publicsources, e.g., other e-commerce websites including other C2C platforms,business-to-consumer (B2C) consignment sites, and/or retail platforms;and (4) confirm with the seller, including prompting for input toconfirm or readjust the price, potentially with advice, automaticallygenerated from the backend, as to why the seller may want to readjustthe price and by how much, in some embodiments.

At any of steps (1), (2), or (3) in system 200, price information may becollected and statistically analyzed with respect to other parameters orvariables, e.g., including any other data or metadata for price andcorrelating with listed condition (new, like-new, very good, good, fair,poor, etc.), category, brand, size, etc., whether on the same platformor on other platforms such as third-party sources or public sources,normalized for any differences in metadata (item condition scales,locality variations in pricing, seasonal variations in pricing, etc.)that may arise on the other platforms. Statistical analysis here mayinclude averaging or calculation of trends for any set(s) of these datapoints or metadata categories, for example.

As discussed above, actions (1)-(4) taken by system 200 may be performedin any order, taking or skipping any based on any other automated ormanual determinations. However, accounting for reliability,computational efficiency, time, and potentially cost (of accessingcertain platforms, for example), one default configuration may be tocheck first with the backend database on the same platform at (1), andif (1) sufficiently satisfies a condition (e.g., providing data pointsfor a list of candidate items and/or another data point by which toconfirm or update a selected item), then actions (2)-(4) may bebypassed, skipping to any update or confirmation actions.

Similarly, if (1) does not satisfy a condition, or if further input isotherwise sought, system 200 may proceed to taking action (2) or (3),depending on which is more efficient or depending on other factors.Additionally or alternatively, any of actions (1)-(4) may be performedin parallel, for potentially quicker resolution, in some embodiments.

Depending on a given platform and/or a given seller, seller input may betreated as less reliable than input gathered from any of (1)-(3). Insome embodiments, if any or all of (1)-(3) are still insufficient forany reason, or for any other reason, (4) may optionally be pursued,requesting additional seller input, confirmation, or adjustments, forexample. The action taken at (4) may include providing further advice,automatically generated from the backend, as to why the seller may wantto readjust the price and by how much, in some embodiments.

Regarding automatic biasing of search results, the same metadataconsidered with respect to price may be considered in determining wherein a given search result set a new or existing listing for sale shouldappear. Based on various consideration including price, probabilityscores (e.g., of likelihoods that the item will sell within a given timeperiod), item condition, geography, season, time of day, cyclical orsecular trends, larger-scale trends, and/or any other information thatmay be gathered from (1)-(3) and/or (4), in some cases, search resultrankings may be upgraded (promoted, boosted, or otherwise augmented) ordowngraded (demoted, suppressed, or otherwise diminished). Other factorsin biasing search results may depend on individual buyers searching, orapplication programming interfaces (APIs) or media by which searches maybe conducted or by which results may be retrieved.

Some use cases for biasing may be to improve turnaround time forshipping and/or delivery of items sold, by biasing local results overmore remote results. Here, “local” may refer not merely to geographicaldistance, but rather to “shipping distance,” or average transit times ofparcels along particular routes or within/across particular geographicregions, for example. Other factors may include similarity of differentitems that may also be from local sellers, how long a given item hasbeen listed for sale, whether a given buyer or other buyers haveexpressed interest in the item (e.g., via a given platform), etc. Insome cases, sellers may also be given some control over search biasing,e.g., a guaranteed promotion for a certain time, or based on sellerrating, karma, credit, etc., in some embodiments.

For buyers searching for particular items, which may match a uniqueidentifier for multiple instances worldwide, for example, a searchengine may surface local sellers (close to the buyer in shippingdistance) before more remote sellers, even if the more remote sellersmay have other attributes potentially of interest to the buyer, in somecases. In some embodiments, search biasing may be configured to overrideor weigh more heavily against existing user-specified search filters orpreferences, for example.

Other factors that the search engine may account for may includeshipping costs for sellers and/or platforms, sales taxes for buyersand/or platforms, profitability for sellers and/or platforms, amongother possibilities. Such search biasing techniques, while potentiallybeneficial for C2C platforms, may also yield similar benefits for B2Cplatforms or B2B platforms, in some use cases.

Such preferential search biasing may additionally be useful to a marketplatform in order to preserve QoS or adhere to an SLA, in furtherexamples. Thus, using at least the enhanced techniques described herein,searchability may be improved with respect to certain attributes ofbuyers and/or sellers with respect to items transacted, in someembodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an examples of screen display 300 of an exemplaryuser interface as may be rendered on a computing device comprising adisplay apparatus, according to some embodiments. Screen display 300 mayinclude various regions for output of textual values and/or graphicalelements, as well as prompts for input in various forms. For example,user input may be provided via any graphical user interface (GUI)element(s), a textual user interface (TUI), voice commands,accelerometers or other environmental sensors, etc.

The screen display provided in FIG. 3 is merely exemplary, and isprovided to illustrate some example outputs and inputs as may relate toenhanced techniques of probabilistic item matching, searching, searchbiasing, and recommendations as described herein. Persons skilled in therelevant art(s) will appreciate that various approaches may be taken toprovide a suitable screen display 300 in accordance with thisdisclosure.

Screen display 300 may include various indicators and control elementsthat may be displayed and arranged according to any appropriatemethodology, framework, toolkit, widget set, guidelines, design languageetc. Examples include flat design, hierarchical design, layered design,WIMP design (windows, icons, menus, pointer), natural user interface(NUI), reality-based interface (RBI), augmented reality (AR), e.g., withheads-up display (HUD), virtual reality (VR), e.g., with a virtualstorefront, etc. User input may be provided using pointing devices suchas a mouse, trackball, joystick, touchpad, touchscreen, etc., as well asother forms of touch, spatial navigation, eye tracking, voice commands,environmental sensors, scripted or programmatic input via API, etc.Equivalent means of input may be used additionally or alternatively asunderstood in the art.

Screen display 300 may include a title, such as that shown at the top ofscreen display 300 in FIG. 3, in some embodiments. In another region ofscreen display 300, other GUI elements, widgets, knobs, sliders,scrollbars, buttons, or related features may be presented for a user tointeract with any underlying hardware and/or software, for example.

For further illustration, an example is shown in FIG. 3. In the exampleshown in FIG. 3, $990 is a “Suggested price” representing one example ofa suggested value that is output on a screen display. Additionallyoutput with the suggested value is a prompt for further input. Thefurther input may be provided via buttons (“List” or “Save draft”)and/or via a slider, knob, or equivalent element, e.g., in hardware(physical buttons, knobs, sliders, etc.), software (GUI, TUI, voicecommand, etc.), or any combination thereof.

Shown in FIG. 3 in the same field as the suggested value is anon-limiting example of a GUI-based slider element, which a user mayadjust to change an actual desired sale price for listing an item tosell. Responsive to the further input, any of the values describedabove, including the suggested value and/or any of the at least twovalues that may be used to define any range, for example, may be updatedand similarly output, updating any existing output, in some embodiments.Any number of buttons or text fields may also be used for input.

Additional values are displayed, such as a “Sell faster” suggestion anda “Sell slower” suggestion to either side of the central suggested valueof “Suggested price” as may be determined based on probability scoresfor the values described in 508 below. This combination of suggestedprices forms one example of a pricing guide. Other formats andsuggestions may be presented in any configuration to create anequivalent pricing guide, or another guide using other parametersbesides or in addition to list prices, in other embodiments.

Further values that may be output via screen display 300, as shown inFIG. 3, include minimum and maximum possible prices, which may bedetermined by a given platform, for example. A fee or commission ratemay also be displayed, as well as a calculation of the fee or commissionbased on a desired sale price that may be selected via an element ofscreen display 300. In addition to the calculated fee or commission,remaining proceeds from a projected sale may also be displayed.

For additional output, any number of text fields or images may bedisplayed. Output may also be accomplished by various other means,including sound, haptic feedback, external electronic indicatorsincluding light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or additional external displays,etc. Any number of outputs and/or input prompts may be displayedsimultaneously or sequentially in any arrangement or timing.

While screen display 300 of FIG. 3 shows one example configuration,practically any other configuration is possible within the scope andspirit of this disclosure to aid developers and users in designing,implementing, configuring, and using an interface and apparatus orsystem implementing the enhanced techniques described herein.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method 400 for probabilistic itemmatching and searching, according to some embodiments. Method 400 may beperformed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g.,circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.),software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or acombination thereof. Not all steps of method 400 may be needed in allcases to perform the enhanced techniques disclosed herein. Further, somesteps of method 400 may be performed simultaneously, or in a differentorder from that shown in FIG. 4, as will be understood by a person ofordinary skill in the art.

Method 400 shall be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6. However,method 400 is not limited only to those example embodiments. The stepsof method 400 may be performed by at least one computer processorcoupled to at least one memory device. An exemplary processor and memorydevice(s) are described below with respect to 604 of FIG. 6. In someembodiments, method 400 may be performed using system 100 of FIG. 1,which may further include at least one processor and memory such asthose of FIG. 6.

In 402, at least one processor such as processor 604 may load a datapoint relating to a specific item. For example, the data point may be aninput value from a user, which may include a character string, number,or other information that may potentially identify the specific item,for example. Any loaded data point or received input may be stored in amemory, for example, such as main memory 608. The user input or datapoint(s) relating to the specific item may be incomplete or ambiguous,in some cases. Leveraging enhanced techniques for probabilistic matchingand searching that are described herein, a suitable result may bedelivered despite sparse, incomplete, or ambiguous input, therebyimproving accuracy of search results otherwise obtainable, and reducinga level of effort and interaction required of a user, according to someembodiments.

In a further example of 402, the data point may be a description, title,name, or otherwise brief characterization or statement describing anitem, as may be arbitrarily entered by a user, in some embodiments.Depending on the user and any category to which the item belongs, theinput may be in response to a specific prompt (not shown), for example.The data point may, additionally or alternatively, be based onnon-textual data, e.g., from a sensor, camera, voice recognition,artificial intelligence or neural network to generate descriptions basedon other input or environmental factors, etc. The data point mayoriginate and be sent or received programmatically and/or in anautomated fashion, such as by an application programming interface (API)for example, not necessarily by manual input from a user, in someembodiments.

In 404, processor 604 may generate a database query based on the datapoint. The database query is not limited to a query of a traditionalstructured database. Rather, for purposes of this disclosure, a databasequery is any query that may function like a database query. For example,any term, expression, or value (or any part thereof) used to determine amatch against other data may be considered to be a database query forpurposes of this disclosure. Similarly, any entry in a “database” maycorrespond to any listing, data structure, web page, or other entityfrom which item data or corresponding metadata may be extracted,scraped, parsed, or otherwise handled, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the query may be a string literal, for example,corresponding to a title or description, for example. In someembodiments, the query may be a regular expression or similar inputhaving special characters or components intended to match more than theliteral input string itself. In some embodiments, the database query mayinclude operators and/or syntax such as with SQL queries for example.However, such queries are not necessarily limited to accessing SQLdatabases—other types of databases, data stores, data lakes, data pools,data feeds, data streams, etc., may be used, and may be unstructured orpartially structured if not fully structured. In some embodiments, thequery may be used for a public resource, third-party resource, library,database, or web search, such as using a web search engine, for example.

In 406, processor 604 may receive a response to the database query,wherein the response comprises a plurality of candidate items relatingto the specific item. In some embodiments, the response received may bestored in memory, such as memory 608. While it may be possible, in somecases, for the response to have less than a plurality of candidateitems, i.e., one or zero, in such cases, the probabilistic search andmatching may be short-circuited in such cases and conclude early. Inother cases, where the response to the database query includes multiplecandidate item results, processing of method 400 may continue, todetermine, with a level of confidence, at least one top result, forexample.

In 408, processor 604 may receive a first input relating to the specificitem. The first input may be used for further qualifying the data point,regardless of any type or format of the data point, for example. In someembodiments, first input may be a different text object (e.g., string)even if the data point is a text object—the data point and the firstinput may describe different elements of a text description (e.g., name,make, model, year, size, etc.), or may be different parts of the sameelement, for example.

In other cases, the first input may be of a different type, e.g., wherethe data point may be text in the form of a character string, the firstinput may be a photographic image, or vice-versa. Other types may beused, including voice recognition or other characteristic sounds oraudio fingerprints, for example. Aside from text-based strings, amathematical or cryptographic signature in any representation may alsobe used. Barcodes or other patterns or sequences may be used.

Other possible types of input include, without limitation, vibrationalpatterns, chemical samples and analysis thereof, measurements ofradiation, electrical and/or magnetic signals, or any otherenvironmental sensor input, etc. Other forms of input may be received,such as in the form of output from other computer programs oralgorithms, e.g., neural network output, perceptron output, imagerecognition output, classification output, or other types of output.These outputs may be based on other user inputs, e.g., from photographicdata, voice or audio data, or other third-party resources, feeds, etc.

The first input may be received in response to any variety of prompts,e.g., on a screen, e.g., of a mobile device, via another visible oraudible indicator, over a network, and/or via an API from a local orremote program (with respect to a device performing the probabilisticmatching and searching, for example. Similarly, a second input, thirdinput, or any further input may be received in response to any similaror related prompts, for example.

In 410, processor 604 may generate a probability score for at least twocandidate items of the plurality of candidate items in the response,based on at least the first input. The probability score may be inabsolute terms or in relative terms to other candidates, for example. Inrelative terms to other candidates, the other candidates may becandidates received in response to the database query, and/or mayrepresent candidates from multiple queries and responses thereto (e.g.,a history of past queries and responses, at least within a predeterminedtime frame, etc.). In this latter case of generating probability scoregeneration from multiple queries or responses, probability scoring maybe cumulative over a specific time period and/or over all time. In suchcases of cumulative probability scoring, additional algorithms,including machine learning, may be useful to improve accuracy ofprobability scores over time and iterations of machine learning,including by deep learning networks, in some embodiments.

Probability scores as described herein may be generated locally on aclient device, e.g., PC or mobile device such as a smartphone or tabletcomputer, remotely on self-hosted service (including dedicatedserver(s), VPS, or on-premises cloud) infrastructure, remotely viathird-party services, or any combination thereof. In embodiments wherethe probability score generation may be performed via multiple devices,a first device may be configured to send or pass a structured data query(e.g., in markup, serialized format, key-value pair, etc.) or other datastructure to a second device such that processing may be initiated orcontinued to allow a resulting probability score to be generated andreturned, either to the first device, a module of the second device, ora third device, for example. In some embodiments, not all components ofthe query or data structure may contain structured data for expectedoperation.

According to some embodiments, item listings or search results may bebiased or ranked based on probability scores that may be generated asdescribed herein. Thus, in some use cases relying on remote databases orthird-party service providers to generate matches and/or probabilityscores and return results, implementations of scoring and ranking may berealized to provide relatively high levels of specificity in results,without requiring user input of a certain specificity, e.g., a SKU, atthe local device, e.g., smartphone or PC terminal.

In 412, processor 604 may select a selected item from the plurality ofcandidate items, based on the probability score for the selected item.Based on at least one of the data point and the first input, processor604 may select a candidate item as a selected item. In some embodiments,processor 604 may select the candidate item having the highestcorresponding probability score, for example, to be the selected item.In addition, or instead, processor 604 may select the selected itembased on any other criteria or conditions, in other embodiments.

In response to loading any data point or to receiving any first input,second input, third input, or any further input, in some embodiments,probability scores may be updated or otherwise change. To the extentthat the candidate item having the highest corresponding probabilityscore may also change in response, such a change may also be reflectedin the selected item. For example, processor 604 may change the selecteditem to the candidate item having a highest corresponding probabilityscore, if the selected item is not already the same as the candidateitem having the highest corresponding probability score. Other criteriamay be used, additionally or alternatively, for selecting, updating, orotherwise changing the selected item, in other embodiments.

In 414, processor 604 may output a reference to the selected item.Specifically, as an output, processor 604 may return a reference or someother value as a result, in some embodiments. The reference or value mayallow a separate function, module, device, user, or other entity torecognize or determine the resulting selected item. The reference orvalue may be a uniform, universal, and/or unique identifier, includingbut not limited to SKU, UPC, URI, URL, URN, ISBN, ASIN, etc., to which agiven item may be mapped, in some embodiments. Additionally oralternatively, a value may include a checksum, fingerprint, signature,digest, hash, or cryptographic hash, corresponding to at least one ofthe data point or second input, to track inputs and outputs and/ordetermine duplicate inputs, for example.

Additionally, the output of 414, either by reference or by value, may beused as input for further methods, systems, and/or devices. For example,a reference or identifying value corresponding to the selected item maybe reliably used as input for further recommendations and/or biasing ofsearch results, such as in 502 of method 500 and FIG. 5, described inmore detail below. Further details of such uses and data flows aredescribed additionally in the “Probabilistic Search Biasing andRecommendations” application incorporated by reference herein. Output of414 may also be used with respect to the “Inventory Ingestion, ImageProcessing, and Market Descriptor Pricing System,” “Inventory ingestionand Pricing System,” and “System and Method for Determining SellabilityScore and Cancellability Score,” applications, each filed herewith andincorporated by reference as noted above.

Method 400 is disclosed in the order shown above in this exemplaryembodiment of FIG. 4. In practice, however, the operations disclosedabove, alongside other operations, may be executed sequentially in anyorder, or they may alternatively be executed concurrently, with morethan one operation being performed simultaneously, or any combination ofthe above.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method 500 including probabilisticitem matching and searching, according to some embodiments. Method 500may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g.,circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.),software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or acombination thereof. Not all steps of method 500 may be needed in allcases to perform the enhanced techniques disclosed herein. Further, somesteps of method 500 may be performed simultaneously, or in a differentorder from that shown in FIG. 5, as will be understood by a person ofordinary skill in the art.

Method 500 shall be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6. However,method 400 is not limited only to those example embodiments. The stepsof method 400 may be performed by at least one computer processorcoupled to at least one memory device. An exemplary processor and memorydevice(s) are described below with respect to 604 of FIG. 6. In someembodiments, method 400 may be performed using system 100 of FIG. 1,which may further include at least one processor and memory such asthose of FIG. 6.

In 502, a processor such as processor 604 may receive an input relatingto an identified item. The identified item, in some embodiments, may bean output selected item, such as from 414 in reference to FIG. 4 above,and as described in the “Probabilistic item Matching and Searching”application that was referenced above and incorporated by referenceherein. To the extent that method 500 may employ any additional oralternative way of identifying items, in addition to or instead of theprobabilistic item matching and/or searching described with respect tomethod 400 above, input received in 502 may be similar to the inputreceived in 402 above, for example.

Separately, in other embodiments of 502, the input may be a description,title, name, or otherwise brief characterization or statement describingan item, as may be arbitrarily entered by a user, for example. Dependingon the user and any category to which the item belongs, the input may bein response to a specific prompt (not shown), for example. The inputmay, additionally or alternatively, be based on non-textual data, e.g.,from a sensor, camera, voice recognition, artificial intelligence orneural network to generate descriptions based on other input orenvironmental factors, etc. The input may originate and be sent orreceived programmatically and/or in an automated fashion, such as by anapplication programming interface (API), for example, not necessarily bymanual input from a user.

In 504, processor 604 may generate a database query based on the input.The database query is not limited to a query of a traditional structureddatabase. Rather, for purposes of this disclosure, a database query isany query that may function like a database query. For example, anyterm, expression, or value (or any part thereof) used to determine amatch against other data may be considered to be a database query forpurposes of this disclosure. Similarly, any entry in a “database” maycorrespond to any listing, data structure, web page, or other entityfrom which item data or corresponding metadata may be extracted,scraped, parsed, or otherwise handled, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the query may be a string literal, for example,corresponding to a title or description, for example. In someembodiments, the query may be a regular expression or similar inputhaving special characters or components intended to match more than theliteral input string itself. In some embodiments, the database query mayinclude operators and/or syntax such as with SQL queries for example.However, such queries are not necessarily limited to accessing SQLdatabases—other types of databases, data stores, data lakes, data pools,data feeds, data streams, etc., may be used, and may be unstructured orsemi-structured if not fully structured. In some embodiments, the querymay be used for a public resource, third-party resource, library,database, or web search, such as using a web search engine, for example.

In 506, processor 604 may receive a response to the database query,wherein the response comprises a plurality of comparable items, whereinthe comparable items are similar to the identified item, and wherein theresponse further comprises corresponding metadata for the plurality ofcomparable items, including a range of values corresponding to theplurality of comparable items. While it may be possible, in some cases,for the response to have less than a plurality of comparable items,i.e., one or zero, in such cases, the probabilistic recommendations maybe short-circuited in such cases and conclude early. In other cases,where the response to the database query includes multiple comparableitem results, processing of method 500 may continue.

As a separate but related consideration, if a specific metadata field ofinterest is blank, spurious, or otherwise uninformative for a givencomparable item, processor 604 may, in some cases, ignore thecorresponding comparable item for purposes of further computationsregarding the same metadata field of interest. In one exemplary usecase, a given item may be determined to be a comparable item by virtueof at least some elements of its description being similar tocorresponding elements of the input in 502. However, if processor 604may be comparing comparable items to determine reasonable price rangesfor how an input item (e.g., of 502) may sell in a given market, forexample, processor 604 may ignore certain comparable items if theircorresponding price (meta) data were missing or were statisticaloutliers (likely uninformative or spurious data), according to someembodiments.

In 508, processor 604 may generate a probability score for at least twovalues of the range of values, based at least on the correspondingmetadata for the plurality of comparable items. Following the exampleimmediately above, processor 604 may be comparing comparable items todetermine reasonable price ranges for how an input item (e.g., of 502)may sell in a given market. Meaningful output may not be one singlevalue, but may, depending on other factors, be reflected by two or morevalues. Additionally or alternatively, two values of the at least twovalues may represent a low value and a high value, e.g., defining agiven range of values.

For example, two values may define a range of prices within which agiven item (e.g., input of 502) has at least a certain probability ofselling within a given period of time (duration and/or specific dates).Separately, a different range of prices may be determined forprobability of completing a sale irrespective of time. In a furtherembodiment, a first value may represent a highest price for a givenprobability of sale irrespective of time, and a second value may bedetermined to be a highest price for a given probability of sale withina given time constraint.

In 510, processor 604 may output at least a suggested value based on atleast the generated probability score for the at least two values of therange of values, together with a prompt for further input. The suggestedvalue may be one of the at least two values described with respect to508 above, in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the suggestedvalue may be distinct from any of the at least two values of 508, forexample, but may be derived from any of the at least two valuesdescribed with respect to 508 above, in some cases.

For further illustration, an example is shown in FIG. 3. In the exampleshown in FIG. 3, $990 is a “Suggested price” representing one example ofa suggested value that is output on a screen display. Additionallyoutput with the suggested value is a prompt for further input. Thefurther input may be provided via buttons (“List” or “Save draft”)and/or via a slider, knob, or equivalent element, e.g., in hardware(physical buttons, knobs, sliders, etc.), software (GUI, TUI, voicecommand, etc.), or any combination thereof.

Shown in FIG. 3 in the same field as the suggested value is anon-limiting example of a GUI-based slider element, which a user mayadjust to change an actual desired sale price for listing an item tosell. Responsive to the further input, any of the values describedabove, including the suggested value and/or any of the at least twovalues that may be used to define any range, for example, may be updatedand similarly output, updating any existing output, in some embodiments.

Additional values are displayed, such as a “Sell faster” suggestion anda “Sell slower” suggestion to either side of the central suggested valueof “Suggested price” as may be determined based on probability scoresfor the values described in 508 above. This combination of suggestedprices forms one example of a pricing guide. Other formats andsuggestions may be presented in any configuration to create anequivalent pricing guide, or another guide using other parametersbesides or in addition to list prices, in other embodiments.

In further embodiments, a time value may be output, based at least on atleast one comparable item and corresponding metadata. Additionally oralternatively, the time value may be set by a user at the user'sdiscretion. The time value, as may be stored in memory 608, may be usedto calculate any of the at least two values described in 508, forexample, at least for any time-sensitive probability scores. By way offurther illustration, the time value may be a period of time in which asale has a given probability score, e.g., six hours, two days, one week,etc. While such a time value may be stored and associated with acorresponding probability score or other value, the time value may alsobe optionally displayed to a user alongside or in place of any othervalue(s), for example.

As with the probability score, suggested value, and other valuesdescribed above, the time value may be updated in response to any userinput (e.g., first input, second input, etc.) or further user input, andthe updated time value and/or probability score(s) may be output,updating any existing output, in some embodiments. Additional operationsof updating or refreshing, based on any user input and/or any periodicrefresh cycle, for example, may be performed in accordance with anyother related technique understood in the art.

Method 500 is disclosed in the order shown above in this exemplaryembodiment of FIG. 5. In practice, however, the operations disclosedabove, alongside other operations, may be executed sequentially in anyorder, or they may alternatively be executed concurrently, with morethan one operation being performed simultaneously, or any combination ofthe above.

Example Computer System

Various embodiments may be implemented, for example, using one or morecomputer systems, such as computer system 600 shown in FIG. 6. One ormore computer systems 600 may be used, for example, to implement any ofthe embodiments discussed herein, as well as combinations andsub-combinations thereof.

Computer system 600 may include one or more processors (also calledcentral processing units, or CPUs), such as a processor 604. Processor604 may be connected to a bus or communication infrastructure 606.

Computer system 600 may also include user input/output device(s) 603,such as monitors, keyboards, pointing devices, etc., which maycommunicate with communication infrastructure 606 through userinput/output interface(s) 602.

One or more of processors 604 may be a graphics processing unit (GPU).In an embodiment, a GPU may be a processor that is a specializedelectronic circuit designed to process mathematically intensiveapplications. The GPU may have a parallel structure that is efficientfor parallel processing of large blocks of data, such as mathematicallyintensive data common to computer graphics applications, images, videos,vector processing, array processing, etc., as well as cryptography(including brute-force cracking), generating cryptographic hashes orhash sequences, solving partial hash-inversion problems, and/orproducing results of other proof-of-work computations for someblockchain-based applications, for example. With capabilities ofgeneral-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU), the GPUmay be particularly useful in at least the image recognition and machinelearning aspects described herein.

Additionally, one or more of processors 604 may include a coprocessor orother implementation of logic for accelerating cryptographiccalculations or other specialized mathematical functions, includinghardware-accelerated cryptographic coprocessors. Such acceleratedprocessors may further include instruction set(s) for acceleration usingcoprocessors and/or other logic to facilitate such acceleration.

Computer system 600 may also include a main or primary memory 608, suchas random access memory (RAM). Main memory 608 may include one or morelevels of cache. Main memory 608 may have stored therein control logic(i.e., computer software) and/or data.

Computer system 600 may also include one or more secondary storagedevices or secondary memory 610. Secondary memory 610 may include, forexample, a main storage drive 612 and/or a removable storage device ordrive 614. Main storage drive 612 may be a hard disk drive orsolid-state drive, for example. Removable storage drive 614 may be afloppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disk drive, anoptical storage device, tape backup device, and/or any other storagedevice/drive.

Removable storage drive 614 may interact with a removable storage unit618. Removable storage unit 618 may include a computer usable orreadable storage device having stored thereon computer software (controllogic) and/or data. Removable storage unit 618 may be a floppy disk,magnetic tape, compact disk, DVD, optical storage disk, and/any othercomputer data storage device. Removable storage drive 614 may read fromand/or write to removable storage unit 618.

Secondary memory 610 may include other means, devices, components,instrumentalities or other approaches for allowing computer programsand/or other instructions and/or data to be accessed by computer system600. Such means, devices, components, instrumentalities or otherapproaches may include, for example, a removable storage unit 622 and aninterface 620. Examples of the removable storage unit 622 and theinterface 620 may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface(such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip(such as an EPROM or PROM) and associated socket, a memory stick and USBport, a memory card and associated memory card slot, and/or any otherremovable storage unit and associated interface.

Computer system 600 may further include a communication or networkinterface 624, Communication interface 624 may enable computer system600 to communicate and interact with any combination of externaldevices, external networks, external entities, etc. (individually andcollectively referenced by reference number 628). For example,communication interface 624 may allow computer system 600 to communicatewith external or remote devices 628 over communication path 626, whichmay be wired and/or wireless (or a combination thereof), and which mayinclude any combination of LANs, WANs, the Internet, etc. Control logicand/or data may be transmitted to and from computer system 600 viacommunication path 626.

Computer system 600 may also be any of a personal digital assistant(PDA), desktop workstation, laptop or notebook computer, netbook,tablet, smart phone, smart watch or other wearable, appliance, part ofthe Internet of Things (IoT), and/or embedded system, to name a fewnon-limiting examples, or any combination thereof.

It should be appreciated that the framework described herein may beimplemented as a method, process, apparatus, system, or article ofmanufacture such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium or device.For illustration purposes, the present framework may be described in thecontext of distributed ledgers being publicly available, or at leastavailable to utrtrusted third parties. One example as a modern use caseis with blockchain-based systems. It should be appreciated, however,that the present framework may also be applied in other settings wheresensitive or confidential information may need to pass by or throughhands of untrusted third parties, and that this technology is in no waylimited to distributed ledgers or blockchain uses.

Computer system 600 may be a client or server, accessing or hosting anyapplications and/or data through any delivery paradigm, including butnot limited to remote or distributed cloud computing solutions; local oron-premises software (e.g., “on-premise” cloud-based solutions); “as aservice” models (e.g., content as a service (CaaS), digital content as aservice (DCaaS), software as a service (SaaS), managed software as aservice (MSaaS), platform as a service (Paas), desktop as a service(DaaS), framework as a service (FaaS), backend as a service (Baas),mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS),database as a service (DBaaS), etc.); and/or a hybrid model includingany combination of the foregoing examples or other services or deliveryparadigms.

Any applicable data structures, file formats, and schemas may be derivedfrom standards including but not limited to JavaScript Object Notation(JSON), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Yet Another Markup Language(YAM), Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), Wireless MarkupLanguage (WML), MessagePack, XML User Interface Language (XUL), or anyother functionally similar representations alone or in combination.Alternatively, proprietary data structures, formats or schemas may beused, either exclusively or in combination with known or open standards.

Any pertinent data, files, and/or databases may be stored, retrieved,accessed, and/or transmitted in human-readable formats such as numeric,textual, graphic, or multimedia formats, further including various typesof markup language, among other possible formats. Alternatively or incombination with the above formats, the data, files, and/or databasesmay be stored, retrieved, accessed, and/or transmitted in binary,encoded, compressed, and/or encrypted formats, or any othermachine-readable formats.

Interfacing or interconnection among various systems and layers mayemploy any number of mechanisms, such as any number of protocols,programmatic frameworks, floorplans, or application programminginterfaces (API), including but not limited to Document Object Model(DOM), Discovery Service (DS), NSUserDefaults, Web Services DescriptionLanguage (WSDL), Message Exchange Pattern (MEP), Web Distributed Data,Exchange (WDDX), Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group(WHATWG) HTML5 Web Messaging, Representational State Transfer (REST orRESTful web services), Extensible User interface Protocol (XUP), SimpleObject Access Protocol (SOAP), XML Schema Definition (XSD), XML RemoteProcedure Call (XML-RPC), or any other mechanisms, open or proprietary,that may achieve similar functionality and results.

Such interfacing or interconnection may also make use of uniformresource identifiers (URI), which may further include uniform resourcelocators (URL) or uniform resource names (URN). Other forms of uniformand/or unique identifiers, locators, or names may be used, eitherexclusively or in combination with forms such as those set forth above.

Any of the above protocols or APIs may interface with or be implementedin any programming language, procedural, functional, or object-oriented,and may be compiled or interpreted. Non-limiting examples include C,C++, C#, Objective-C, Java, Scala, Clojure, Elixir, Swift, Go, Perl,PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, WebAssembly, or virtually any otherlanguage, with any other libraries or schemas, in any kind of framework,runtime environment, virtual machine, interpreter, stack, engine, orsimilar mechanism, including but not limited to Node.js, V8, Knockout,jQuery, Dojo, Dijit, OpenUI5, AngularJS, Express.js, Backbone.js,Ember.js, DHTMLX, Vue, React, Electron, and so on, among many othernon-limiting examples.

In some embodiments, a tangible, non-transitory apparatus or article ofmanufacture comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer useable orreadable medium having control logic (software) stored thereon may alsobe referred to herein as a computer program product or program storagedevice. This includes, but is not limited to, computer system 600, mainmemory 608, secondary memory 610, and removable storage units 618 and622, as well as tangible articles of manufacture embodying anycombination of the foregoing. Such control logic, when executed by oneor more data processing devices (such as computer system 600), may causesuch data processing devices to operate as described herein.

Based on the teachings contained in this disclosure, it will be apparentto persons skilled in the relevant art(s) how to make and useembodiments of this disclosure using data processing devices, computersystems and/or computer architectures other than that shown in FIG. 6.In particular, embodiments can operate with software, hardware, and/oroperating system implementations other than those described herein.

Conclusion

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notany other section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. Othersections can set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments ascontemplated by the inventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limitthis disclosure or the appended claims in any way.

While this disclosure describes exemplary embodiments for exemplaryfields and applications, it should be understood that the disclosure isnot limited thereto. Other embodiments and modifications thereto arepossible, and are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Forexample, and without limiting the generality of this paragraph,embodiments are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and/orentities illustrated in the figures and/or described herein. Further,embodiments (whether or not explicitly described herein) havesignificant utility to fields and applications beyond the examplesdescribed herein.

Embodiments have been described herein with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries can be defined as long as thespecified functions and relationships Or equivalents thereof) areappropriately performed. Also, alternative embodiments can performfunctional blocks, steps, operations, methods, etc. using orderingsdifferent from those described herein.

References herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an exampleembodiment,” “some embodiments,” or similar phrases, indicate that theembodiment described can include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but every embodiment can not necessarily include theparticular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrasesare not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with an embodiment, it would be within the knowledge ofpersons skilled in the relevant art(s) to incorporate such feature,structure, or characteristic into other embodiments whether or notexplicitly mentioned or described herein.

Additionally, some embodiments can be described using the expression“coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms arenot necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, someembodiments can be described using the terms “connected” and/or“coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physicalor electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, canalso mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with eachother, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

The breadth and scope of this disclosure should not be limited by any ofthe above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: generating, by at leastone computer processor, a database query based on an input relating toan identified item; receiving, by the at least one computer processor, aresponse to the database query, wherein the response comprises aplurality of comparable items, wherein the plurality of comparable itemshave been determined to be similar to the identified item based on atleast one element of textual or non-textual descriptive datacorresponding both to the identified item and to the plurality ofcomparable items, and wherein the response further comprisescorresponding metadata for the plurality of comparable items;generating, by the at least one computer processor, a probability scorefor at least two values of the range of values, based at least on astatistical analysis of the corresponding metadata for the plurality ofcomparable items; modifying, by the at least one computer processor, asearch ranking of the identified item, based on at least one metadataentry of the corresponding metadata and based on a service levelagreement; and outputting, by the at least one computer processor, atleast a suggested value based on at least the generating the probabilityscore for the at least two values of the range of values, together witha prompt for further input.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: outputting, by the at least one computer processor, at leasta low value and a high value based on at least the generating theprobability score for the at least two values of the range of values,together with the prompt for further input.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving, by the at least one computer processor,the further input in response to the prompt for the further input;updating, by the at least one computer processor, the probability scorefor the at least two values of the range of values based on at least thefurther input; and outputting, by the at least one computer processor,at least the updated probability score for one of the at least twovalues of the range of values.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: outputting, by the at least one computer processor, a timevalue based on at least the corresponding metadata for the plurality ofcomparable items and the generating the probability score for the atleast two values of the range of values.
 5. The method of claim 4,further comprising: receiving, by the at least one computer processor,the further input in response to the prompt for the further input;updating, by the at least one computer processor, at least one of thetime value and the probability score for the at least two values of therange of values based on at least the further input; and outputting, bythe at least one computer processor, at least one of the time value andthe updated probability score for one of the at least two values of therange of values.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:outputting, by the at least one computer processor, at least a firsthigh value based on at least a first given probability and a second highvalue based on at least a second given probability, together with theprompt for further input.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the responseto the database query comprises at least one data entry derived from atleast one public source or at least one third-party source
 8. A system,comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory,the at least one processor configured to: generate a database querybased on an input relating to an identified item; receive a response tothe database query, wherein the response comprises a plurality ofcomparable items, wherein the plurality of comparable items have beendetermined to be similar to the identified item based on at least oneelement of textual or non-textual descriptive data corresponding both tothe identified item and to the plurality of comparable items, andwherein the response further comprises corresponding metadata for theplurality of comparable items; generate a probability score for at leasttwo values of the range of values, based at least on a statisticalanalysis of the corresponding metadata for the plurality of comparableitems; modify a search ranking of the identified item, based on at leastone metadata entry of the corresponding metadata and based on a servicelevel agreement; and output at least a suggested value based on at leastthe generating the probability score for the at least two values of therange of values, together with a prompt for further input.
 9. The systemof claim 8, the at least one processor further configured to: output atleast a low value and a high value based on at least the generatedprobability score for the at least two values of the range of values,together with the prompt for further input.
 10. The system of claim 8,the at least one processor further configured to: receive the furtherinput in response to the prompt for the further input; update theprobability score for the at least two values of the range of valuesbased on at least the further input; and output at least the updatedprobability score for one of the at least two values of the range ofvalues.
 11. The system of claim 8, the at least one processor furtherconfigured to: output a time value based on at least the correspondingmetadata for the plurality of comparable items and the generatedprobability score for the at least two values of the range of values.12. The system of claim 11, the at least one processor furtherconfigured to: receive the further input in response to the prompt forthe further input; update at least one of the time value and theprobability score for the at least two values of the range of valuesbased on at least the further input; and output at least one of the timevalue and the updated probability score for one of the at least twovalues of the range of values.
 13. The system of claim 8, the at leastone processor further configured to: output at least a first high valuebased on at least a first given probability and a second high valuebased on at least a second given probability, together with the promptfor further input.
 14. The system of claim 8, wherein the response tothe database query comprises at least one data entry derived from atleast one public source or at least one third-party source.
 15. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device,cause the at least one computing device to perform operationscomprising: generating a database query based on an input relating to anidentified item; receiving a response to the database query, wherein theresponse comprises a plurality of comparable items, wherein theplurality of comparable items have been determined to be similar to theidentified item based on at least one element of textual or non-textualdescriptive data corresponding both to the identified item and to theplurality of comparable items, and wherein the response furthercomprises corresponding metadata for the plurality of comparable items;generating a probability score for at least two values of the range ofvalues, based at least on a statistical analysis of the correspondingmetadata for the plurality of comparable items; modifying a searchranking of the identified item, based on at least one metadata entry ofthe corresponding metadata and based on a service level agreement; andoutputting at least a suggested value based on at least the generatingthe probability score for the at least two values of the range ofvalues, together with a prompt for further input.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the operations furthercomprising: outputting at least a low value and a high value based on atleast the generating the probability score for the at least two valuesof the range of values, together with the prompt for further input. 17.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, theoperations further comprising: receiving the further input in responseto the prompt for the further input; updating at least one of the timevalue and the probability score for the at least two values of the rangeof values based on at least the further input; and outputting at leastthe updated probability score for one of the at least two values of therange of values.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 15, the operations further comprising: outputting a time valuebased on at least the corresponding metadata for the plurality ofcomparable items and the generating the probability score for the atleast two values of the range of values.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the operations furthercomprising: receiving the further input in response to the prompt forthe further input; updating the probability score for the at least twovalues of the range of values based on at least the further input; andoutputting at least one of the time value and the updated probabilityscore for one of the at least two values of the range of values.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, theoperations further comprising: outputting at least a first high valuebased on at least a first given probability and a second high valuebased on at least a second given probability, together with the promptfor further input.